In an attempt to keep up with the likes of Amazon and Apple in the tablet sector, Google is planning to release the next version of its Nexus 7 tablet around July.

There have been rumors about a successor to the original Nexus 7 tablet, but no word on a date until today.

Google hopes to sell about 8 million of its new Nexus 7 tablet in the second half of this year.

The new tablet is expected to have a thinner bezel design, higher screen resolution and a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor rather than the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip (which was used in the first Nexus 7 tablet released in June last year). It will be made by Asustek.

A price for the new device hasn't been announced yet, but many assume it will be in the $199 range, which is what the original Nexus 7 sold for. This would likely mean a discounted price of $149 or lower for the original.

Keeping the Nexus 7 at a low price will allow it to compete with Amazon's Kindle HD line and Apple's iPad mini (although the iPad mini is priced much higher than the Nexus 7 or Kindle HD at a starting price of $329).

Google can afford to sell devices at competitive costs as long as it promotes the use of its Google Play store for apps and other digital products.

The original Nexus 7 tablet was released in June 2012 and sold for $199. It was made by ASUS and featured a a 7-inch IPS display with a 1280x800 resolution; a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor; a 1.2 MP front-facing camera; NFC; Bluetooth; 802.11n wireless; GPS and 16GB and 32GB versions. The 16 GB version starts at $199 while the 32GB runs $249.99.